Food dehydrator? What's the best?
tropicals9b
13 years ago
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arley_gw
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
can I plant these in my garden?
Comments (2)Actually, cilantro like cool weather and therefore, it will grow best in your zone. Basil, on the other hand, is a heat lover. But if the night loves stay over 47, 48F it will grow fine, especially if the day highs are 65F+. Once you got the seedlings ( which has taken couple of months to grow in greenhouse) you should be fine. The short Answer then is : YES....See MoreFood Dehydrators
Comments (16)I've used different methods for drying - some foods are better suited to one over the other. Most herbs are easy, and for me, I dry them in a sunny window, to which I have 2 window screens tied - butterfly fashion - together - and with good sun exposure can expect to be done in 2 days. This includes dried onion/garlic scapes, thyme, mints, etc. I also put harvested onions and garlic there for a few days to start them - then hang inside or braided together, and placed in a dry area - near the ceiling for longer storage. This year, we had a lot of foggy/smoggy summer weather, so invested in my Excaliber - works great. I did a lot of cherry type tomatoes and felt they were dried sufficiently to go in a sealed jar in the pantry. No signs of mold. The dehydrator also worked great for helping to get a good rise from my sourdough breads. The toughest things so far to dry - are peppers. They want to curl over and create perfect tight areas for mold to harbor. This last batch I sliced long thin strips - as I just want to grind them for powder anyway. It seems to be working much better and faster. Have also used the dehydrator to facilitate peeling and drying nuts. When they are dried, hulled, and shelled, I freeze them in baggies - then place inside a freezer half pint container. They can be toasted and ground right from the freezer that way - tasting fresh as can be. I dried some pineapple - then baggied and put in freezer containers also - this prevents ice crystals from forming, especially if only a few are removed from time to time. Just my 2 c's. Bejay...See MoreLet's Talk About Food Dehydrating...
Comments (32)Mrs TLC - I have to tell you that my Excalibur doesn't dry foods as evenly as advertized. Food and trays still need to be moved around while drying. My old American Harvester, now called Nesco, worked quite well for me. I consider it a good buy for the money. L_in_FL - I did buy a jerky gun but I haven't use it yet. I wish that I watched the jerky videos more carefully before buying the gun because I didn't realize that the ground meat has to be mixed with chemicals so it can turn into a paste. That didn't appeal to me. I need to do more research on that. If anyone has experience with a jerky gun, I would like to know also. You don't need a jerky gun to make jerky. It's only for ground meat. I want to learn how to make ground turkey jerky because it is healthier than beef. Years ago when I made beef jerky I would ask the butcher at Publix to slice the meat for me. That is really important so you get the slices the right thickness. I have seen some videos on making jerky with sliced chicken breasts. I want to give that a try. Christine...See MoreWhat foods do you dehydrate?
Comments (17)plllog- It sounds like you are describing freeze-dried food, which unfortunately, CAN'T be duplicated in a dehydrator. Freeze-drying is a commercial technique that forms a vacuum while the food is freezing. Stored properly, freeze-dried food has a much longer shelf-life than home-dehydrated, and freeze-dried foods are much higher in nutrients than those made at home, and freeze-dried foods rehydrate in a fraction of the time as home-dried foods. I store and use both home-dehydrated and freeze-dried. jennieboyer, Home\-dehydrated foods need to be used fairly quickly because they don't have any preservatives, and the nutrients degrade quickly \- even if they still "look" fine, and may even taste fine, after years on your shelves. Recommended storage times for home\-dried foods range from 4\-months to one year because the quality is affected by oxygen, temperature, and light. Most dried fruits can be stored for one year at 60\-degrees F, or six months at 80\-degrees F. (room temperature is considered 70\-degrees F.). The cooler the storage temperature, the longer the shelf\-life, and this is true for all stored foods. For each 10\-degrees above room temperature (70\-degrees F) the faster food degrades (nutrients are lost, color and texture may change). Because home\-dehydrated vegetables don't have as much natural (or added) sugar as fruit does, vegetables have about half the shelf\-life of fruits. I consider home\-dehydrated foods pantry foods which need to be rotated and used quickly. Unless you are 100% sure a home\-dehydrated food has 10% moisture or less, don't vacuum\-seal it because if any bacteria is present, it could potentially grow into a toxin \- even in the oxygen\-free container. In order to know the amount of moisture, you have to weigh the food before and after dehydrating. For more specific information on the subject, I suggest getting the book "How To Dry Foods" by Deanna DeLong. You can often find this book at the library and used book stores. As a general rule fruits dried at home normally have about 80% of their moisture removed and vegetables \- 90%. Only a small percentage of foods dehydrated are done until they are crispy dry. I do crispy apples for snacks (which store longer), and leathery apples for cooking/baking, which get used quickly. In my case, unless the dehydrated food is being used, they are stored in a dark, cool, food storage room in the basement. I always try to store enough apple slices for a year, but that's the only item I plan on doing that. Even foods that seem bone dry can still have some moisture in it. Each time you open a container of dehydrated foods, it will reabsorb moisture from the air, so make sure you don't leave the lid off a container any longer than needed, and use more small containers (pint and quart jars). The same problem of reabsorption occurs after the dehydrated food is done drying. Once the food is dry, allow it to come to room temperature, then place it in a container/s and be sure to condition it (an important step many people skip and find they have moldy food) before placing it in storage. If you pack warm food into a jar, moisture will continue to be expelled from the warm food and can be trapped in the jar, causing the food to mold. I would avoid using a timed dehydrator because it is possible for the food to sit for a long period of time after the timer has gone off, and it will most certainly have reabsorbed a lot of moisture, especially in a place where there is high humidity. I typically don't store home\-dried foods in large batches \- especially potatoes which are notorious for molding. Crispy apples destined for snacking I place in a snack\-size zip\-lock bag, then place the bags of apple slices in a quart jar. This way each time the jar is opened there is less chance any of the apple slices will reabsorb moisture from the air. There is an alternative method called dehydrofreezing where only about 70% of the moisture is removed, however, these foods MUST be stored in the freezer to prevent microbial growth. There are some advantages to dehydrofreezing \- the food has better flavor and color than traditional drying, and they reconstitute in about half the time it takes for traditionally dried foods. They also take up less space in the freezer than fresh\-frozen food. If you don't have plastic fruit leather sheets you can use plastic wrap to cover the trays, or you could try a produce bag with some cutting required to make it cover the round trays (both will require some over\-lapping). Caution \-\-\- do NOT place the food on the printed side of the bags because the ink is NOT food\-grade. I will also bet once you use a plastic bag or plastic wrap for this process, you will find the stiff plastic fruit leather sheets much easier to use and well worth the money. \-Grainlady...See Moremustangs81
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6 years ago
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